Microsoft didn’t warn Chinese victims of government hack

Microsoft experts concluded several years ago that Chinese authorities had hacked into more than a thousand Hotmail email accounts, particularly those of international leaders of China’s Tibetan and Uighur minorities, but it decided not to tell the victims, allowing the hackers to continue their campaign, according to former employees of the company.

On Dec. 30, after a series of requests for comment from Reuters, Microsoft said it would change its policy and will tell its email customers when it suspects there has been a government hacking attempt.

The company also confirmed for the first time that it had not called, emailed or otherwise told the Hotmail users that their electronic correspondence had been collected. The company declined to say what role the exposure of the Hotmail campaign played in its decision to make the policy shift.

The first public indication of the attacks came in May 2011, when security firm Trend Micro announced it found an email sent to someone in Taiwan that contained a miniature computer program. No direct link was immediately made with the Chinese authorities.

The program took advantage of a previously undetected flaw in Microsoft's Web pages to direct Hotmail and other free Microsoft email services to secretly forward copies of all of a recipient's incoming mail to an account controlled by the attacker.

Trend Micro found more than a thousand victims, and Microsoft patched the vulnerability before the security company announced its findings publicly.

Microsoft launched its own investigation that year, finding that some interception began in July 2009 and compromised the emails of top Uighur and Tibetan leaders in multiple countries as well as Japanese and African diplomats, human rights lawyers and others in sensitive positions in China, two former Microsoft employees said. They spoke separately and on the condition that they not be identified to avoid possible professional repercussions.

Some of the attacks came from a Chinese network known as AS4808, which has been associated with major spying campaigns, including a 2011 attack on EMC's security division RSA that U.S. intelligence officials publicly attributed to China.

To see the report, click here.

Microsoft officials did not dispute that most of the attacks came from China but said some came from elsewhere. They did not give further details.

"We weighed several factors in responding to this incident, including the fact that neither Microsoft nor the U.S. government [was] able to identify the source of the attacks, which did not come from any single country," the company said. "We also considered the potential impact on any subsequent investigation and ongoing measures we were taking to prevent potential future attacks."

In announcing the new policy, Microsoft said, "As the threat landscape has evolved, our approach has too, and we'll now go beyond notification and guidance to specify if we reasonably believe the attacker is state-sponsored."

The Chinese government "is a resolute defender of cybersecurity and strongly opposes any forms of cyberattacks," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said, adding that it punishes any offenders in accordance with the law.

"I must say that if the relevant party has some real and conclusive evidence, then it can carry out mutually beneficial cooperation with China in a constructive way in accordance with the existing channels," he said at a daily news briefing. "But if there's the frequent spreading of unfounded rumors, it will, in fact, be of no benefit to solving the problem, enhancing mutual trust and promoting cybersecurity."

The Cyberspace Administration of China did not respond to a request for comment.

After a vigorous internal debate in 2011 that reached Microsoft's top security official, Scott Charney, and its then–general counsel and now president, Brad Smith, the company decided not to alert the users clearly that anything was amiss, the former employees said. Instead, it simply forced users to pick new passwords without disclosing the reason.

The employees said it was likely the hackers by then had footholds in some of the victims' machines and therefore saw those new passwords being entered.

One of the reasons Microsoft executives gave internally in 2011 for not issuing explicit warnings was their fear of angering the Chinese government, two people familiar with the discussions said.

Microsoft's statement did not address the specific positions advocated by Smith and Charney. A person familiar with the executives' thinking said that fear of Chinese reprisals played a role, given the company's concerns about the potential impact on customers.

Microsoft said the company believed the password resets would be the fastest way to restore security to the accounts. "Our primary concern was ensuring that our customers quickly took practical steps to secure their accounts, including by forcing a password reset," the statement said.

It is unclear what happened to the email users and their correspondents as a result of Microsoft's failure to alert them to the suspected government hacking. But some of those affected said they were now deeply worried about the risks, especially for those in China.

"The Internet service providers and the email providers have an ethical and a moral responsibility to let the users know that they are being hacked," said Seyit Tumturk, the vice president of the World Uyghur Congress, whose account was among those compromised. "We are talking in people's lives here."

Unrest in Xinjiang, the Chinese region bordering Kazakhstan that is home to many Uighurs, has resulted in hundreds of people's deaths in recent years. Beijing blames Islamic militants, while human rights groups say harsh controls on Uighurs' religion and culture have led to the violence.

Until Wednesday, Microsoft rejected the idea of explicit warnings about state-sponsored hacking, such as those Google began in 2012, the former employees said. In the 2011 case, the company also opted not to send a more generic warning about hacking. Yahoo and Facebook have been issuing such warnings for several years, former employees of those companies told Reuters, including when the principal suspect was a government.

Both companies, along with Twitter, announced in recent months that they would follow Google's lead and explicitly notify users about suspected state-sponsored hacking.

Google said that on average it now issues tens of thousands of warnings about targeting every few months and that recipients often move to improve their security with two-factor authentication and other steps.

Reuters interviewed five of the Hotmail hacking victims who were identified as part of Microsoft's investigation: two Uighur leaders, a senior Tibetan figure and two people in the media dealing with matters of interest to Chinese officials.

Most recalled the password resets, but none took the procedure as an indication that anyone had read his or her email, let alone that it may have been accessed by the Chinese government.

"I thought it was normal — everybody gets it," said one of the men, a Uighur émigré now living in Europe who asked not to be named because he has family members still in China.

Another victim identified by Microsoft's internal team was Tseten Norbu of Nepal, a former president of the Tibetan Youth Congress, one of the more outspoken members of a community that has frequently clashed with Chinese officials. Another Microsoft-identified victim was Tumturk of the World Uyghur Congress, who lives in Turkey.

Microsoft investigators also saw that emails were forwarded from the account of Peter Hickman, a former U.S. diplomatic officer who arranged high-profile speeches by international figures at the National Press Club in Washington for many years.

He said he used his Hotmail account on Press Club computers for correspondence with, among others, staffers for the Tibetan government in exile, whose leader Lobsang Sangay spoke at the club in 2011; the World Uyghur Congress, whose then-President Rebiya Kadeer spoke there in 2009; and the president of Taiwan, who spoke there via video link in 2007.

Hickman said he didn't recall the password reset. He said he never suspected anything was wrong with the account, which he continues to use.

Widespread flooding hits Missouri and Illinois, with rivers still rising

Rain-swollen rivers across Missouri were still rising on Wednesday, with widespread flooding forcing the evacuation of hundreds of people, closing part of a major interstate highway and threatening to wash out scores of structures.

Several major rivers and tributaries in Missouri and Illinois were poised to crest at record levels, the National Weather Service said. Some of the rivers are expected to continue to rise until Saturday. 

Federal officials, meanwhile, continue to monitor 19 vulnerable levees on the rising Mississippi River and its tributaries, warning that hundreds of homes in the two states could be threatened by a rare winter flood.  

The Meramec River near St. Louis is expected to climb more than 3 feet above the previous record by late this week. At least 20 deaths over several days in Missouri and Illinois were blamed on flooding, mostly involving vehicles that drove onto swamped roadways.

“It's very clear that Missouri is in the midst of a very historic and dangerous flooding event,” Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon said during a Tuesday news conference.

On Tuesday, the Mississippi River spilled over the top of a levee at West Alton, Missouri, a town of approximately 520 people about 20 miles north of St. Louis. Mayor William Richter ordered any residents who had not already evacuated to get out of harm's way.

Across the river in Alton, Illinois, dozens of volunteers helped place sandbags where water is expected to rise. Mayor Brant Walker said in a statement that “even with our best efforts of sandbagging and pumping,” flooding was expected at least in the basements of the downtown business district.

In Union, another eastern Missouri town, water from the normally docile Bourbeuse River reached the roofs of a McDonald's, a QuikTrip and several other businesses. The river reached an all-time high Tuesday, nearly 20 feet above flood stage.

Interstate 44 was closed near the central Missouri town of Rolla, and a 10-mile section of Interstate 70 was shut down in southern Illinois before it was reopened late Tuesday afternoon. Hundreds of smaller roads and highways were also closed in the two states, and flood warnings were in effect.

Nixon activated the National Guard to assist with security in evacuated areas and to help keep road closure sites clear.

In southern Illinois, the Department of Corrections transferred an unspecified number of inmates from a state prison to other locations because of flooding risks. The facility has nearly 3,700 inmates.

The Mississippi River is expected to reach nearly 15 feet above flood stage on Thursday at St. Louis, which would be the second-worst flood on record, behind only the devastating 1993 flood.

Alderman Larry Arnowitz said up to 500 homes could be threatened if the River des Peres — a man-made storm and sewage channel that flows through southern St. Louis into the Mississippi River — rises much more than projected. But he was confident that with no rain in the forecast for the next several days and with the help of thousands of sandbags, everything would be OK.

The high water was blamed on the shutdown of a wastewater treatment plant on Monday just south of St. Louis, causing sewage to go directly into nearby rivers and streams. The Metropolitan Sewer District of St. Louis said the Fenton wastewater treatment plant, which is designed for 6.75 million gallons per day of flow, was treating nearly 24 million gallons per day at the time of the malfunction.

One of the two wastewater plants in Springfield, Missouri, also failed, allowing partially treated sewage to flow into a river.

The U.S. Coast Guard closed a 5-mile portion of the Mississippi River near St. Louis because of flooding. Capt. Martin Malloy cited high water levels and fast currents in the river, which is a vital transportation hub for barges that carry agricultural products and other goods.

In central and southern Illinois, major flooding was occurring along the Kankakee, Illinois, Sangamon and Vermilion rivers.

In Granite City, Illinois, about 30 residents of a flooded trailer park idled in a Red Cross emergency shelter in a church basement. The park's property manager told Shirley Clark, 56, and other displaced residents that it could be another 10 to 12 days before they would be able to return to their homes.

“We need help over here,” said Clark, a diabetic who said she left behind her insulin supply. “We're just holding on.”

Burundians will fight AU troops if they ‘violate’ borders, says president

would fight against any peacekeepers sent into the country by the African Union, the nation’s president declared Wednesday in his first public response to the regional body’s plan to put an end to spiraling violence.

An uptick in political rhetoric reminiscent of that which preceded neighboring Rwanda’s 1994 genocide has led to international calls for dialogue between Burundi’s rival factions. Many fear tensions are edging Burundi toward a return to out-and-out bloodshed; a decade after the country’s 12-year civil war between Hutu rebels and a Tutsi-led army came to an end.

In an effort to avoid that outcome, the African Union (AU) said this month it was ready to send 5,000 peacekeepers to protect civilians caught up in months of violence, invoking for the first time powers to intervene in a member state against its will.

But President Pierre Nkurunziza has warned against such  a move

"Everyone has to respect Burundi borders," Nkurunziza said Wednesday in comments broadcast on state radio.

"In case they violate those principles, they will have attacked the country and every Burundian will stand up and fight against them ... The country will have been attacked and it will respond," he said. Other government officials have already said any peacekeepers arriving without Burundi's permission would violate its sovereignty.

Nkurunziza also reiterated the government's position that any opposition members who had taken part in a failed coup in May should be barred from participating in peace talks, which kicked off this week in Kampala, Uganda.

"We saw them the other day in Kampala as government opponents," he said. "We can’t accept this. They must be arrested... Instead of bringing them to talks, they should instead bring them to the court."

The talks, brokered by the East African Community regional bloc, were expected to reconvene in Tanzania next month, but it remains unclear if Burundi's government will participate if they do not agree on which individuals represent the opposition.

The AU on Wednesday threatened to sanction Burundi's rival factions if they failed to attend peace talks next month, as it pushes the government to accept a peacekeeping force.

Ugandan officials said talks would resume on January 6 but the Burundi government delegation said "no consensus" had been reached on the date. AU Commission chief Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma warned of sanctions if violence continues and talks do not go ahead.

"All those whose action could jeopardize the inter-Burundian dialogue, including attacks by armed groups against governmental facilities and other targets, as well as refusal to respond to the invitation of the mediator, shall be subjected to sanctions," Dlamini-Zuma said in a statement seen Wednesday.

She gave no further details of possible sanctions, which have been threatened before, but called for "unreserved cooperation" with the peace process "in order to put an end to the violence."

More than 400 people have been killed and 220,000 have fled to neighboring countries since the crisis erupted in April, triggered by Nkurunziza's bid for a third term. Opposition groups took to the streets saying he was violating constitutional term limits. But he pointed to a court order allowing his campaign and was re-elected in a disputed July vote.

Continued clashes and targeted assassinations in the central African nation have unsettled a region where memories of bloodshed on a large scale are still raw.

Burundi has an ethnic divide similar to the one that led to neighboring Rwanad’a 1994 genocide in which 800,000 people — mainly Tutsis and moderate Hutus — were massacred.

Many Burundi observers said there has been an escalation of dangerous rhetoric not heard since then.

Terror alert and fires disrupt New Year's celebrations

Reports said at least 16 people were hurt following the blaze in Dubai [EPA]

Millions of people around the world have welcomed in the year 2016 on high security alert, with train stations in Germany evacuated over an "imminent threat" and fireworks canceled in Paris and Brussels, while huge fires ripped through a Dubai hotel and destroyed 1,000 homes in the Philippines.

Only hours before the New Year celebration in Germany, police shut down two main train stations in the city of Munich after receiving "very concrete information" from the intelligence service of a friendly country that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group had planned to carry out "suicide attacks" in the southern city on New Year's Eve.

"I think this was the right decision because I believe that we cannot take risks regarding such concrete threats about concrete places and concrete times," Bavaria Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann told a news conference on Friday.

Munich police chief Hubertus Andrae said ISIL had planned to use suicide bombers in the attack.

Despite police warnings to stay away from big crowds, thousands of people were on the streets of Munich at midnight to welcome the new year with fireworks.

Security forces in many capitals around the world were on raised alert after a year of violent attacks, the biggest of which killed 130 in Paris in November and was claimed by ISIL.

In Europe, terror fears also loomed large, with firework displays canceled in Brussels and Paris.

More than 100,000 police were deployed throughout France to guard celebrations, as defiant Parisians turned out on the Champs Elysees to greet 2016 in the biggest public gatherings since the November 13 attacks.

In his New Year address, President Francois Hollande said France "has not finished with terrorism yet" and that the threat of another attack "remains at its highest level."

Belgian police were holding five people over an alleged New Year attack plot in Brussels, as well as arresting a 10th suspect over the Paris attacks.

Fires in Dubai and Manila

In Dubai, a vast blaze ripped through a luxury 63-story hotel, the Address Downtown, close to the world's tallest tower where people had gathered to ring in the New Year.

Al Jazeera's Mohammed Jamjoom, reporting from Dubai, said investigators have yet to determine the cause of the blaze. 

But authorities put on a spectacular show, refusing to let the hotel blaze, which injured 16 people, disrupt celebrations.

At least 3,000 families lost their homes in the capital Manila on January 1 [Reuters]

In the Philippine capital Manila, a fire hit at least 1,000 homes displacing 3,000 families just hours after the New Year celebration. Authorities said firecrackers likely started the blaze.

Sydney, traditionally the first to host a major New Year's bash, kicked off the global festivities when it lit up the skies with pyrotechnics at the stroke of midnight or 1300 GMT on Thursday.

After Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa, the chimes of midnight will finally move across the Americas.

Jakarta remained on high alert after anti-terror police foiled detailed plans for an alleged New Year suicide attack in the Indonesian capital.

Turkish police detained two ISIL suspects allegedly planning to stage attacks in the center of the capital Ankara.

In Moscow, police for the first time closed off Red Square, where tens of thousands of revelers traditionally gather.

"It's no secret that Moscow is one of the choice targets for terrorists," Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said ahead of the celebrations.

In Britain, Scotland Yard said around 3,000 officers were deployed across central London in what was reported to be an unprecedented anti-terror security effort.

In the United States, authorities said they had arrested and charged a 25-year-old American Muslim convert over an alleged attempt to launch a New Year's Eve attack in upstate New York in the name of ISIL.

In New York City, despite a pledge of tight security, one million people are expected to turn out to see the Times Square ball descend at 0500 GMT on Friday. 

An estimated two million people were expected to ring in 2016 on Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana beach, with the Brazilian city hosting this year's Olympics.

In Sierra Leone, the capital Freetown was hoping to reclaim its mantle as host of the best beach parties in Africa after Ebola scared people away.

The city of 1.2 million was deserted 12 months ago during the worst Ebola outbreak ever recorded.

Midwest flooding kills at least 20, shuts major interstate

Surging Midwestern rivers forced hundreds of evacuations, threatened dozens of levees and brought transportation by car, boat and train to a virtual standstill Thursday in the St. Louis area.

Rivers and streams, already high from a wet late fall, were pushed to levels not seen in nearly a quarter-century, after more than 10 inches of rain fell this week in a swath from central Illinois to southwestern Missouri.

While St. Louis itself was not flooded, hundreds of homes in its southwestern suburbs were damaged, and hundreds of residents of other areas had to leave as water approached the tops of levees. Other spots being threatened were farmland or now-deserted land.

The good news Thursday: The Missouri, Meramec and Mississippi rivers were cresting throughout the region. The Mississippi River appeared to be about 7 1/2 feet below the 1993 record in St. Louis, where a floodwall offered solid protection, but as the waters flow south, points in southern Missouri and Illinois are awaiting the crest.

The Meramec River southwest of St. Louis reached record levels — 4 feet above the previous record in the suburb of Valley Park — but was starting to recede Thursday. However, there was still cause for grave concern, as hundreds of homes in Eureka, an estimated 100 homes in Arnold and dozens more in nearby Pacific were damaged.

The river caused major transportation issues. Because of flooding, a 24-mile stretch of Interstate 44 was closed southwest of St. Louis on Wednesday, and the Missouri Department of Transportation was forced to close a 3-mile stretch of Interstate 55 in both directions on early Thursday.

"There's still water out there. There's water everywhere," department spokeswoman Marie Elliott said. "We were out there all night sandbagging trying to hold it back as much as we could, but it was just so much."

The only north-south alternative to I-55 was an already congested local road. "The other alternates that we would have sent motorists to basically have water on them as well," she said.

Other forms of transportation were equally problematic. Amtrak officials suspended St. Louis–to–Kansas City train service on Thursday, and 5-mile stretch of the Mississippi River that was closed at St. Louis halted barge traffic.

At least 20 deaths over several days in Missouri and Illinois were blamed on flooding, mostly involving vehicles that were driven onto swamped roadways, and at least two people were still missing in central Illinois on Thursday.

In Eureka, southwest of St. Louis, firefighters and their boats have been in high demand since Tuesday, rescuing roughly four dozen people in their homes, businesses or vehicles.

"I think you're seeing people who are desperate or impatient, putting themselves in predicaments," said Scott Barthelmass, a Eureka Fire Protection District spokesman.

Nine levees, some on the Mississippi River and others on the Missouri River, were topped by water, the Army Corps of Engineers said. Most of those earthen barriers were meant to protect farmland rather than populated areas, and one held the Mississippi back from the now-deserted man-made Chouteau Island on the Illinois side.

Nearly a dozen other levees considered at risk for possible significant distress were holding Thursday, but people were moving out just in case.

Michael Pennise, the mayor of the St. Louis suburb of Valley Park, ordered mandatory evacuations for 350 to 400 homes and dozens of businesses in the section of town near the Meramec River. But the water was receding Thursday, and the levee held.

The southwestern Missouri tourist destination of Branson had residents of about 150 duplexes and homes evacuate Wednesday because of flooding from a man-made lake.

And in the historic riverfront city of Alton, Illinois, some downtown business owners scrambled Wednesday to keep out rising water from the Mississippi.

Merchant Tim Meeks loaded vats of gourmet olive oil from his downtown market onto a trailer headed to higher ground as employees worked to drain a basement filled with 7 feet of standing water.

"We don't keep anything down there anymore," he said. "All of our product has to go."

Remembering Shanghai's New Year crush

Authorities in the Chinese city of Shanghai have decided not to hold New Year celebrations on the historic Bund this year after a stampede last year left 36 people dead and dozens more injured.

A huge crowd had gathered on the riverfront to ring in 2015 but the evening turned to tragedy when a crush occurred around midnight. 

Huang Yuyao is a 19-year-old college student who was on the Bund that night.

Why is in-flight turbulence so unpredictable?

The plane was diverted to Calgary after turbulence hit and the injured are in a stable condition.

Turbulence injuries cannot always be prevented by passengers wearing seatbelts when instructed to do so, and turbulence cannot always be predicted.

So what causes plane turbulence in the skies? The list is long.

According to to the Federal Aviation Administration, turbulence can be caused by:

• air movement not normally seen
• atmospheric pressure
• jet streams
• air around mountains
• cold or warm weather fronts
• thunderstorms

In-air turbulence is the leading cause of injury to people on flights, according to the FAA, and on average 58 people in the US are injured during turbulent flights when not wearing seatbelts every year.

Most turbulence accidents happen at 30,000 ft (9144m) or above.

Passengers on the Air Canada flight said the turbulence happened suddenly, with blankets flying up to the ceiling, people screaming and the plane feeling "like a rollercoaster".

'It happens in all types of weather'

Turbulence can happen unexpectedly at any time, no matter the weather, Mark Weiss, a former American Airlines pilot of 23 years, told the BBC.

"It's just a natural phenomena of weather," he said. "You can't always predict it. It could be as clear as could be, and you could get caught in a jet stream."

Airlines are diligent about turning on the "fasten seatbelt" sign if turbulence is predicted, but sometimes it comes out of nowhere, and a seatbelt can only do so much, he said.

Pilots can be tipped off to upcoming turbulence by fellow pilots flying ahead, in some cases.

A passenger can be wearing a seatbelt too loosely and still be knocked out by severe turbulence-by horizontal or vertical lifting, even getting thrown to the ceiling.

People with children on their laps need to be especially careful. Those children are basically "flying objects," he said.

Turbulence can cause baggage bins to unlock and suitcases to fall on people, causing injury, or food and beverage carts can get loose.

Mr Weiss recalls flying from Puerto Rico and experiencing severe turbulence.

"There were broken glasses from dishes... one flight attendant hit the ceiling, landed on arm rest and detached a retina in her eye."

Mr Weiss has seen broken arms, broken noses and back and neck injuries from turbulence.

Despite warnings, some people are always going to stand up on a long flight to go to the restroom, retrieve water or stretch out, even if the seatbelt sign is on.

The best thing for passengers to do is listen to the crew when turbulence hits, he said.

Mother of 'affluenza' teen returns to US in handcuffs

The mother of fugitive Texas teen Ethan Couch, known for using an “affluenza” defense in a fatal drunken-driving accident, has been returned to the U.S. from Mexico minus her son, whose own deportation was delayedby a Mexican judge.

Tonya Couch arrived at Los Angeles International Airport on a flight from Mexico in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service and was taken in handcuffs through the terminal to an unmarked Dodge Charger early Thursday morning. She was wearing blue street clothes and looked away from cameras as she walked, flanked by two marshals.

It was unclear why she was brought to Los Angeles instead of Texas, where she and her son live and where he was on probation for the 2013 drunken-driving crash. U.S. Marshals Service spokesman Eugene Hwang said he could not reveal any details about her trip through California or say how long she might remain here, citing security concerns in transporting someone in custody.

Richard Hunter, chief deputy for the U.S. Marshals Service in South Texas, said during a news conference in Houston on Wednesday that a three-day court injunction granted in Mexico to Ethan Couch will likely take at least two weeks to resolve.

But the injunction did not apply to Tonya Couch, who was deported immediately and put on a plane, an official with Mexico's National Immigration Institute told The Associated Press.

Ethan Couch was transported late Wednesday from a detention facility in Guadalajara to one in Mexico City, the official said. The decision to move Couch was made because the Mexico City facility for detaining migrants is larger and better equipped to hold someone for days or weeks.

Authorities believe the 18-year-old Ethan Couch, who was sentenced only to probation for the 2013 wreck in Texas, fled to Mexico with his mother in November as prosecutors investigated whether he had violated his probation. Both were taken into custody Monday after authorities said a phone call for pizza led to their capture in the resort city of Puerto Vallarta.

The ruling earlier Wednesday by the Mexican court gives a judge three days to decide whether the younger Couch has grounds to challenge his deportation based on arguments that kicking him out of the country would violate his rights.

Hunter said the legal maneuver basically takes the decision out of an immigration agent's hands and asks a higher authority to make the deportation decision. He said such cases can often take anywhere from two weeks to several months, depending on the priorities of the local courts.

“It also depends on the fact the Couches have legal counsel. And it seems to me, if they wanted to, they could pay them as much money as they want to drag this thing out,” Hunter said. “We're hopeful that's not the case.”

During the sentencing phase of Ethan Couch's trial, a defense expert argued that his wealthy parents coddled him into a sense of irresponsibility — a condition the expert termed "affluenza." The condition is not recognized as a medical diagnosis by the American Psychiatric Association, and its invocation during the legal proceedings drew ridicule.

“Couch continues to make a mockery of the system,” said Fort Worth attorney Bill Berenson, who represented Sergio Molina, who was paralyzed and suffered severe brain damage in the crash.

Ethan Couch's attorneys in the U.S. issued a statement Wednesday saying they couldn't comment on the case because they weren't licensed to practice law in Mexico. It wasn't immediately clear which attorneys were handling the case in Mexico.

Mexican police say Couch and his mother spent three days in a rented condo at a resort development in Puerto Vallarta before finding an apartment. One of the Couches' telephones had been used to order delivery from Domino's Pizza to the condominium complex in Puerto Vallarta's old town, according to a police report issued by the Jalisco state prosecutors' office.

Agents from the prosecutors' office went to the complex, where a tourism operator told them that the people who had occupied the condo were asked to vacate because the owners were coming to stay over Christmas, the report said. The Couches then moved to an apartment, and the agents set up a surveillance operation in the surrounding streets.

On Monday evening, two people matching the Couches' description were spotted and intercepted. The police report said they behaved evasively, claimed to be carrying no IDs, gave inconsistent stories about their names and failed to provide proof of their legal migratory status in Mexico.

They were taken into custody and handed over to immigration officials.

Authorities in Texas said an arrest warrant was being issued for Tonya Couch on charges of hindering an apprehension, a third-degree felony that carries a sentence of two to 10 years in prison.

Ethan Couch was driving drunk and speeding near Fort Worth in June 2013 when he crashed into a disabled SUV, killing four people and injuring several others, including passengers in his pickup truck.

He pleaded guilty to four counts of intoxication manslaughter and two counts of intoxication assault causing serious bodily injury. A judge sentenced him in juvenile court to 10 years' probation and a stint in a rehabilitation center.

Canada's Lost Women

Canada's aboriginal women make up a small fraction of its population, yet for decades they have suffered disproportionally from abuse, exploitation and murder.

Since the 1980s, over 1,000 indigenous women have been murdered in this developed North American nation, yet, according to campaigners and human rights groups, too few of these cases have resulted in arrests or prosecution.

Amid mounting claims of official indifference to the problem that some say has its roots in racism and the country's colonial past, People & Powerasks why police and the government are not doing more to tackle crimes against Canada's first nation females.

S VIEW

By Sarah Spiller

Sharon Johnson has made the same walk for the past seven years. On Valentine's Day, in the teeth of an Ontario winter, she marches to commemorate her sister Sandra, murdered in 1992.

Woven into this and so very many stories of loss is the question, why have so many of Canada's aboriginal women gone missing or been murdered?

Aboriginal women make up little over four percent of the country's female population, yet account for around 16 percent of female homicides. Nearly 1,200 aboriginal women have disappeared or met violent deaths in the country over the past three decades.

Travelling across three provinces, People & Power heard allegations about the police here, and arguments that the roots of violence against aboriginal women can be traced back to a bitter colonial legacy.

Memorial to a missing Canadian aboriginal girl [Karim Shah / Al Jazeera]

Ontario

This month Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission reported on one of the darkest chapters in the country's history. The removal of over 150,000 aboriginal children from their families to residential schools, places that became notorious for abuse.

On a drive through the Fort William First Nation Reserve outside the Ontario city of Thunder Bay, former Chief Georjann Morriseau described how this policy has impacted on generations, up until the present time.

"The residential schools were to take the Indian out of the child. When your children get taken away you kind of lose your sense of purpose," she says.

Leaving indigenous reserves, more problems could lie ahead in Canada's cities, she said. "Thunder Bay ain't even that big. If you take somewhere like Toronto and Vancouver, you're lost."

In their home outside Toronto, John Fox shared pictures of his daughter Cheyenne. A teenager giggling as the family cleared snow away; a young mother cradling a newborn baby son.

John Fox mourns his daughter, Cheyenne, a native Canadian woman who turned to prostitution and was found dead in 2013 [Karim Shah / Al Jazeera]

John said Cheyenne had lots of friends at school in Thunder Bay, was bubbly and sociable. But when she moved to Toronto, her life was troubled. He says she was assaulted, became homeless, and got involved in sex work to survive.

Cheyenne's body was found in a Toronto suburb in 2013. The 20-year-old had fallen from an apartment block. But for father and brother the police verdict, that Cheyenne committed suicide, just does not seem possible.

"I think they disregarded her because she wasn't your average Canadian woman," says her brother Jonathon. "The fact that she was aboriginal pretty much threw her out, like garbage in a dumpster."

Toronto police told us their position was clear. They had done a thorough investigation. Cheyenne's ethnicity played no role in their investigation.

Manitoba

"When you find a 15 year old, wrapped up in a garbage bag, disposed of, like they're garbage in a river, it effects us all – indigenous or not." 

In Winnipeg, in the Province of Manitoba, Bernadette Smith described the death of another young aboriginal girl last August. A loss that led the community here to take things into their own hands; to drag the Red River running through this city in the hope of finding other remains, other evidence.

Bernadette says they had pushed police to do more, but they were not willing to help community efforts. "That was the whole premise of us doing this. Not having the confidence in them to find our women."

A government-funded mural on Winnipeg’s rail bridge shows the faces of ten murdered and missing native women [Karim Shah / Al Jazeera]

Bernadette's own sister went missing in 2008, aged 21. The crime is still unsolved.

Nahanni Fontaine, an advisor to Manitoba's provincial government, questions the years she says it has taken for families to have their voices heard. Years when she maintains calls to address the disproportionate numbers of aboriginal women disappearing or being killed, simply fell on deaf ears. "Nobody cared."

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) finally produced their findings last year: 1,017 aboriginal women were murdered from 1980 to 2012; 164 women went missing.

The RCMP would not be interviewed for our film. Nor did they answer our questions.

British Columbia

In Northern British Columbia, the RCMP is responsible for policing vast areas of wilderness. Winding through this wild landscape is Highway 16, connecting isolated communities, a road that has come to be known as "The Highway of Tears".

Warning sign on Canada's Highway 16 preventing girls from hitchhiking [Al Jazeera]

An RCMP task force is investigating 18 cases of violent deaths and disappearances here, dating back to 1969. Others have suggested up to 40 may have gone missing or been murdered around Highways 16, 97 and 5, the majority young aboriginal women.

Ramona Wilson, a bright 16-year-old student, went missing one June night in 1994. She told her family she had plans to go to a graduation party. Her murder too, remains unsolved.

"We just want to understand why there are no answers to these young ladies cases," says Ramona's sister Brenda. "It’s not acceptable to our families, and it's not acceptable to our communities that we don't have the answers we need." 

On top of frustrations over unsolved crimes, People & Power heard further disturbing claims about the use of excessive force in RCMP dealings with aboriginal people in this province, and a fractured relationship with indigenous communities.

One activist told us: "I've had so many women say to me – why would I ever call the RCMP?"

Reporter Sarah Spiller joins in a rally calling for the granted safety of indigenous women [Karim Shah / Al Jazeera]

Calls for an inquiry

In March 2015, yet another international report, from a UN expert committee, joined voices calling for an inquiry into Canada's murdered and missing aboriginal women. It is a call rejected by the country's prime minister.

And so the rallies, the marches, the questions, continue. The stories told and re-told.

Before she walks, Sharon Johnson told us she prepares a feast, goes out into the bush and makes a fire.
"I ask the spirits of all the women to come, to talk about their lives. I ask them to come as I talk about my sister, as I tell her story."

Times Square on New Year’s Eve to Be the ‘Safest Place in the World’

(NEW YORK) — With the nation still jittery over shooting massacres in California and Paris, New York City officials sought to assure revelers Tuesday that the New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square will be the safest place in the world — heavily secured by thousands of New York Police Department officers, including a new specialized counterterrorism unit.

“Leave the worrying to the NYPD,” said James O’Neill, chief of the department. “People should feel safest this New Year’s Eve because we’re there.”

Police Commissioner William Bratton said there were no credible threats to the city ahead of the holiday. Yet officials also acknowledged that there were limits to what they could do to ensure security, especially outside the tightly controlled blocks at the heart of the celebration. In much of the city, the focus will be on fast responses to any emergency rather than preventive measures like security checkpoints.

“The ability to protect everything all the time everywhere is not possible in any venue anywhere in the world,” Bratton said Tuesday at a news conference in Times Square.

About 1 million people are expected to pack the blocks around Times Square to watch the 11,875-pound Waterford crystal ball drop. Partygoers trying to get close enough to see and hear the musical acts that perform throughout the evening will be screened with hand-held metal detectors twice — once when they enter one of the 14 access points to the secure zone and once when they enter pens where they must stay lest they lose their spots.

Outside that zone, revelers and vehicles can come and go as they please.

Nearly 6,000 officers will be assigned to the festivities. Visitors will see heavily armed counterterrorism teams and bomb-sniffing dogs. Rooftop patrols and NYPD helicopters will keep an eye on the crowd, and plainclothes officers will blend in with revelers. Newly graduated officers will take part.

“On New Year’s Eve, the department will be out in force,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said. “There will be a tremendous number of officers you will see and many you won’t see.”

The bomb squad and a unit specializing in chemical and biological threats will sweep hotels, theaters, construction sites and parking garages. They also will patrol the Times Square subway station, and certain exits will be blocked off. The NYPD will rely on a network of thousands of closed-circuit security cameras blanketing lower Manhattan, parts of midtown Manhattan and the subway system. About 20,000 smartphones were handed out to officers this year that will allow police to quickly transmit information on potential threats.

“New Year’s Eve in New York City will be the safest place in the world to be,” said Chief James Waters, head of the counterterrorism unit.

And this year, a specialized counterterrorism unit of 500 highly trained officers will be deployed to respond to any emergency.

The unit was first formed after attacks in January at the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. Bratton said the department is constantly evolving based on new information as well as the recent attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California.

Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan, Wiz Khalifa, Charlie Puth and Demi Lovato are among the musical guests schedule to perform this year. When the clock strikes midnight and the ball drops, so will 1 ton of confetti — scraps of paper with well wishes for the upcoming year.

After the show, sanitation crews will get to work cleaning up from the celebration, working through the night to dispose of an estimated 50 tons of garbage, including confetti, party hats and other leftovers from the revelry.